Rolls-Royce outlines vision of engine management

Rolls-Royce experts attending a leading world conference on aero-engine
reliability have highlighted the latest initiatives for enhanced operational
predictability for military and airline customers.

Five Rolls-Royce delegates spoke at the 2-day Aero-Engine Life Management
Conference (AELMC), held recently in London. This event, attended by a range
of engine makers and aircraft operators, was organised by the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers.

Paul Anuzis, Chief Reliability engineer for the company's Civil Airlines
business, who is among the speakers, said: “We are working towards
ever-higher levels of engine reliability and, at the same time, seeing an
increasing trend towards long-term support agreements with our customers. Both
parties in these relationships need to be able to predict accurately how the
equipment will behave, and we now have systems which can track engine
performance in real time”.

Latest generation predictive maintenance tools are bringing new levels of
sophistication to this area. The new QUICK system is an integral part of the
Trent 900 development programme. This engine will be the first to enter
commercial service on the Airbus A380 in 2006. This multi-sensor data fusion
system “learns” the characteristics of normal engine operation and
instantly recognises any variances from this norm.

Key components of this capability are the company's relationships with
Oxford Bio-Signals (OBS) and Data Systems & Solutions (DS&S).

Last year, Rolls-Royce, after working for some years with OBS on system
technologies, took a shareholding in the Oxford-based company, which develops
bespoke production advanced diagnostic health monitoring systems for the
aerospace and medical industries.

DS&S is a joint venture with US-based Science Applications International
Corporation (SAIC), a world leader in software systems and development. DS&S
also supplies ground-station networks for monitoring the flow of in-flight data.

“By deploying our technical knowledge, and the specialist systems we
and our partners have developed, we are able to monitor an engine's health at
any point in time – and spot faults that may be developing, and warranting
maintenance attention, well in advance of that situation causing a real
operational problem,” added Paul.

Such levels of predictability translate into savings both for Rolls-Royce,
in terms of avoiding unforeseen maintenance needs, and for airline and military
customers in less down-time for their aircraft. It also means more certainty in
operational planning and, as part of long-term care agreements, a clearly
visible budget based on agreed rates per flying hour.

With the growing reliability of aero engines, operators are increasingly
looking to concentrate on their own areas of expertise – satisfying the
travelling public, maximising airline schedules, or achieving key military
missions – while leaving the manufacturers to handle the day-to-day
support of their equipment.

The growth of long-term support deals is the obvious outcome of this trend,
and Rolls-Royce has a range of offerings branded as TotalCare packages for its
airline customers, CorporateCare for bizjet owners and Mission Ready Management
Systems for defence operators. These aspects ware covered in presentations given
by Mike Corne, head of Marketing – Service Business, and chief of
Life-cycle Engineering Richard Beasley.

Among latest developments to support these initiatives is a newly
commissioned Operations Room at Rolls-Royce in Derby, UK, which is the subject
of an AELMC presentation by its manager, Rob Hill.

This is a constantly manned single point of contact for customers, offering
immediate support and advice on technical and operational issues. The facility's
database includes full operational records of the worldwide fleet of Rolls-Royce
civil engines.

A fifth Rolls-Royce delegate at the conference, chief engineer, Research and
Technology Sam Beale, is participating in a close-out panel session looking at
the industry way forward.